Like the Willamette post, this is likely long, so feel free to skip it or jump to the high points at the end.

We arrived in Prosser midday on Friday, and after checking into the Inn at Horse Heaven, met up with the group downtown at Alexandria Nicole. We tried several wines there as we enjoyed a light lunch of shared small plates, and the highlight for us was their Destiny Ridge Syrah, which we bought. They also had an excellent Rhone-style white blend which turned out to be the only white wine purchase for us on the whole trip to Oregon and Washington, though I have to admit it was as a gift for Anne's secretary. On the way to dinner, we stopped at Snoqualmie, which had delightful wines at great prices. Oddly, we've never seen their wines around here in Atlanta, and it was the first time we tried them. Their Cirque du Rose was fantastic, very deeply colored and flavorful for a rose, and a total steal at $10. We bought it, plan to order a case more, and we added an '00 Reserve Cab to our collection, too. We dined that evening at Anthony's Home Port in the Tri-Cities, which offered a great view with which to enjoy the conversation with the group and the nice wines. We shared a Dobbes Pinot that we had picked up in Oregon, but the highlight was the dessert wine offered by Wondersofwine -- Minus Five by Argyle, which she had picked up from her visit there in Oregon. it was liquid heaven. Among other wines we tried that evening, we also had an interesting and enjoyable Lemburger from Alexandria Nicole and met the winemaker who chatted with us at our table. After dinner, we stopped by J. Bookwalter for a cap to the evening. Nice music, some more wine, and visits with Bookwalter's parents, who were good, entertaining fun.

On Saturday, we first visited Hedges, a fantastic winery with great wines and beautiful facilities (which we extensively toured). We loved and purchased a red blend called Three Vineyards. Next, we drove over to Walla Walla (and almost had to "Flintstone" a couple cars down the highway due to lack of gas!). We tasted and visited with the owners of Saviah (we liked their Red Mtn. Syrah and a blend called The Jack). Next, we went to Pepper Bridge, one of the most beautiful places we saw over the whole trip, but we were less thrilled with their wines and prices. Nice place, but not our cup-o-tea. Tamarack was next, located in an unlikely airport facility setting. Anne kept mistakenly calling it "Tarmac." At any rate, this was more like it -- very good wines (we bought the Du Brul Vineyard Reserve) and interesting tasting room conversation with a lady who had worked at Hitching Post of Sideways fame. We stopped at Syzygy next, located in the same unlikely complex of facilities, and had great amusement watching a group walk out with winery logo thong bikinis while we chatted with the owner/winemaker. We liked and bought their red blend. Next up was downtown Walla Walla and a visit to James Leigh Cellars, where we tasted some very nice wine and bought another red blend called Palette. At lunch nearby, we ate shared small plates while visiting with Jamie Brown, winemaker at James Leigh. He was loads of fun, and we had a ball. Then, it was back to Prosser to get ready for dinner at CCK's house. We had a BBQ, but that doesn't do her spread justice, as there was enough food to feed Hannibal's army during the Roman Campaign. We dined that evening with the "Two Matts" -- two Prosser-area winemakers. Matt Rawn is from Two Mountain Winery, and he brought an excellent wine to share, and Matt Gray from Coyote Canyon brought a bottle of his first wine made -- it didn't even have a label yet, if my memory serves. Anyway, it made for lively conversation with the other folks from the board, and it was a delightful evening that Anne and I regretted having to leave earlier than we would have liked, as we had to get back to Portland for our flight home the next morning. After this point, I'll have to wait to hear from the others to see what we missed!

All in all, it was a wonderful time, with great new friends, interesting and enlightening visits with winemakers and at wineries, and great food and wine. We had a ball. CCK and Greg went out of their way to make sure it was a memorable time, and for that we raise our glass from Atlanta. They were great hosts, humorous and engaging, and they made us feel very welcome. Wonders was delightful company in both Oregon and Washington, and you'd be hard-pressed to find someone nicer. KC, his wife, and his friend Don were great fun and entertaining conversation, and I'm regretting not taking KC up on his offer to shut ourselves in the Hedges wine library. I'm sure we could have put a dent into the place before someone broke down the door to "rescue" us. It was wonderful to finally put "faces with names" from this site, but even better to make new friendships. We look forward to meeting up with the group again in the future!

OK, so the high points:

Best Wineries (wines, not the facilities): Hedges, Tamarack -- and, an honorable mention wine, as we only tasted one from this winery, but I especially liked the wine brought to Sat. dinner by Matt Rawn from Two Mountains Winery -- darn good stuff!

G unit is traveling today, be back tomorrow-- I look forward to telling him on our way to "Wally-world" (Walla Walla) about his "Best of Field" award. And yes, he did eatand enjoy his lavender chocolate, with the help of a few others, on Sunday night. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img] (Be crazy not to.)

And yes, that was THE first bottle of Matt #2's wine ever bottled and brought out of the winery. He had just finalized the blending.